Monday, December 17, 2012

Giving it another go..

I'm giving it another go , to post a little more that is. I have neglected this project enough . What I thought was going to be an easy thing had turned into something that I should have left to the Professionals. But my thought now is to try to stick with it. So here we go....

I went to the LCS on Sunday with a December budget of $5 ( $10 actually My son and I $5 apiece ) ,

And I think we made out pretty good. Kyle like to jump the gun so to say and forks over the cash as soon as he gets there.But I have to admit , he can haggle and he is of prime age where dealers would be stiff  at my offer , but a kid ?

This past show , he took his time and shook out the dealers and came away real good. I'll post his cards another time.

My money was going to go towards Wilmer Flores cards I needed. They are pretty hard to come by but I did manage to get some I needed.





And what made this show better was the 50% off that a majority of dealers were having. These were actually in the dime boxes so it was nice to get these 2.

Next up was Starling Marte. I think I have 1 of these already but for the price it was worth it. Erasmo Ramirez , I honestly dont have a clue , I like picking these Gold ones up just for the looks.


Who can turn down the Immortal Hulk Hogan..I'm banking on his new found fame in bedroom porn to raise the roof on this cards worth.. ( ok , i will not hold my breath )

The last card was one that well , put me over my limit.I was about to leave and stopped at this last table before walking out.I saw this card and not being a fan or anything of this person , thought it was a cool card.
Right after I asked for his price , I put a number in my head as a max. Lets say the moon and stars aligned and his price was the same as my price so i figured it was meant to be.

  It's a 119 of 199..Ariel Pena , I don't know who you are but this card is nice..

Thanks for reading if you made it this far , and i hope to be more vigilant to this project of mine..

Monday, November 12, 2012

Virgil Trucks update

First off I apologize for the lack of ( none ) posts , there has been a lot going on , which seems to be a bug of sorts with other great bloggers having issues of their own. I hope those of you who are having problems find the light at the end soon and the ones who are bringing in new life to this world , I say congrats..

Now onto the update , A fellow blogger has been able to get some inside scoop on Mr. Trucks and was able to share this on his blog

http://baseballbytheletters.blogspot.com/2012/11/happy-veterans-day-virgil-trucks.html

I hope we all can get the word out on this and continue to have this special guy in our thoughts and prayers..

Thanks for reading , And Thanks again to Tom for the update..

Monday, October 8, 2012

TTM received from a Dolphin

The Miami Dolphins , my team since I can remember. The pain and heartache of being a Dolphin fan.I'm sure that their are others with me either by themselves being a Dolphin fan or that their team had given them the same treatment.

As a father , I thought it was my right to pass my team along to him. He was going to be a " Dolphan " with me. No longer alone in this part of western New York known as Bills Country. think about it , All those years with Jim Kelly and Co. mopping the floors with us , having to live within the walls of all these fans. Mostly " fair weather " fans ( who were the worst ) but i knew someday i would have back-up..

Well , unfortunately , his godfather  got a hold of him and laid the foundation of another Bills fan and my sense of someday having a partner was quashed. He is a Bills fan.

I have come to terms with Benedict Arnold , I mean Kyle , and we coexist as best we can. He may only be 10 years old but it can get crazy. Crazy enough to where a dad would take him to training camp to see his beloved Bills. To buy him tickets to meet his Bills. I never would have thought I would do anything "Pro" Buffalo but the smile I get to see on his face just kinda makes me forget they are the enemy.

So I rambled for a minute , i apologize , but to set this up i thought that needed to be out there. Kyle and I TTM players on occasion and for as many Bills he has written , Jim Kelly and Steve Tasker has been his only returns. My Dolphins are very well at TTM and I think Kyle figured that out. He wrote Daniel Thomas a letter and enclosed a card. It is going to be difficult to read but hopefully you can see the gist of his letter to him.


Well , I am not even sure I mailed this for him , but the return really put a smile on the entire family's face.






He was so proud to show this off ( as well as his dad ) I laminated it to hopefully keep this in shape so that 1 day he can show his kids who hopefully become Dolphin fans like their Grandpa..But that is WAAAAAYY , down the road..


Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Line ups are here.. Welcome to Rochester , NY

I'm starting to wonder , are any of the little guys going to be able to see this game ?  What game you ask ? Well , in an earlier post I mentioned about the Pepsi Max Field of Dreams contest. Well long story short , Rochester won the right to host. So with out further adue (?)...

The Pepsi MAX MLB Field of Dreams American League team includes:
  • Catcher – Yogi Berra
  • First Base – Frank Thomas
  • Second Base – Rod Carew
  • Shortstop – Cal Ripken, Jr.
  • Third Base – Brooks Robinson
  • Outfielders - Ken Griffey, Jr., Rickey Henderson and Reggie Jackson
  • Starting Pitcher – Jim Palmer
  • Relief Pitcher – Dennis Eckersley
  • Designated Hitter – Paul Molitor
The Pepsi MAX MLB Field of Dreams National League team includes:
  • Catcher – Johnny Bench
  • First Base – Fred McGriff
  • Second Base – Ryne Sandberg
  • Shortstop – Ozzie Smith
  • Third Base – Mike Schmidt
  • Outfielders – Andre Dawson, Tony Gwynn and Stan Musial
  • Starting Pitcher – Randy Johnson
  • Relief Pitcher – Trevor Hoffman

WOW , thats all I can say.. But....

The location has yet to be determined. And it goes deeper than that. We have Frontier Field , home of the Red Wings .Seems like the logical place. Hold upwards of 13,500 ( give or take ) , well a local reporter ( http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/extrabases/ ) has noted that Frontier Field is under contract with Coca Cola and they are strictly the only soft drink allowed to be served. Now that throws a kink in the chain. So , the boys of summer are going to be here but where they play is TBD..








Monday, September 17, 2012

The results are in..

Rochester , NY will be center of attention next year..Atleast for 1 night..Now are regular joes going to be able to go or are the corporates going to take over??

Follow the link..

http://mlb.mlb.com/sponsors/pepsi/y2012/field_of_dreams/





Broken Promises

Back in the day , in my early 20's , A bunch of us went to a diner for diner.Now not that this really means anything but it was owned by a Greek gentleman. I ordered a pasta diner for take out.While we were eating , a coworker ( who happens to be Italian ) happened to look at mine and harassed me to no end about going to a Greek diner to order an Italian dish..OK , lesson learned. Fast forward to friday night. I happened to take the family to a diner they frequent ( i work nights ). I ordered the broiled scallops..Man , did I have flashbacks as I was eating those scallops. Now this by NO means is to say that people of Greek descent can not cook , it just means that everyone has their specialty.

Now , onto why is this posted in a card blog ? Well , I have been duped into buying SCORE 2011 Football before only to be disappointed  every time.  The cards themselves are lackluster at best (  In my opinion ) and I just don't see a hit making it that much better.

I took my youngest to Toys-R-Us to spend some Birthday cash and came across the cards section.( Just came across ..ha ha) Well , I didn't want to break the bank on a $20 + Blaster so they had a blaster for $15 and I ran with it..You guessed it , The 2011 Score..( I knew there was a reason for my disgust with Romo.( Blaster poster boy)) Needless to say , the cards are sitting on the floor of my backseat.

I am throwing these out there if anyone needs or wants.I am not going to waste any time scanning these.I've wasted enough.

In the meantime , I am going to regain my self control when it comes to buying cards and ordering on the menu..

Saturday, September 8, 2012

1st ever contest Loot

There is something to be said when you open your email and there is a note from someone with the subject line that says Contest winner. Robert from http://30aweekhabit.blogspot.com/ Had a contest that asked the question " What would you do with a Tony Gwynn Auto card?" Well after leaving my 2cents Ihave an auto card for myself thanks to Robert. But first , he threw in some awesome cards.A couple Devils cards ( Scott sStevens and Scott Neidermeyer as well as this

A Cognac CC..Sweet.
And This..






A Mark Reynolds Relic..Very Sweet..

And the Grand Prize auto...This immediately brought me back to the bench. Scared that I was going to get " hit " with the bucket full of water.... Nah , confetti...




He also threw in a Chrome rack pack.
Not much came out other than an orange Halliday and Youklis as well as 3x RC Kelvin Herrera 2x Jose Reyes base and a RC Taylor Green. Thanks again to Robert .


Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Time Flies

Man , it's been awhile since I have brought anything to the table. My goal of getting 3 balls auto'd went 2 for 3. I wasn't able to make the Bisons game @ rochester so I missed out on a chance at Zach Wheeler. What makes it even harder to swallow is that the big rumor ( atleast I think it still is ) is that the powers to be in Buffalo are choosing not to renew with the Mets and are after the Blue Jays. The Las Vegas 51's are the current minor league AAA team. So as it sounds , the two cities may just end up swapping teams.

thats all for this post , it's been busy with end of summer and kids starting school so please , bear with me.
This guy is nuts !! But thats why I'm entering..Whats the prize?? We'll see at weeks end..

http://annoyanceatitsfinest.blogspot.com/2012/09/ermahgerditsza-giverns-time-younz-gunna.html


Sunday, September 2, 2012

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Ebay win finally delivered

Back on the 4th of July , I won a 7card Rookie lot of Manny Machado. For $6 delivered , i was pretty stoked. I had been in Bignhamton the week before and caught a game between the Baysox and B- Mets. Wilmer Flores had just been called up from A or AA so it seemed for that game it was a Machado VS Flores. They both sent balls over the wall but the bay sox won 7-3. So from then on , i decided to get some of their rookies.
So when my package arrived , i trimmed the top of the mailer only to pull out a 2012 Topps Golden moments Chris Sale Auto. WTF was kinda my response to that.. I immediately taped up the top and RTS'd the package . After an email to the seller , he immediately refunded my purchase and would get back to me when he got a hold of the other buyer with my cards. Well , weeks went by and after the other buyer was done playing his wheres my card games , i am pleased to announce my cards have arrived..






Not bad in my book. I have since added the Bowman auto card. As far as Wilmer goes , his cards are getting more affordable and today I won a lot of his ( which will be a later post ).

Sunday, August 26, 2012

2 for 2

My goal for the last 3 weeks of the month were to get Chase d'Arnaud , Ryne Sandberg and Zach Wheeler signed balls. And after 2 weeks , I am 2 for 2.






After waiting an hour or two in the afternoons of thursday and friday for him to arrive at the stadium without success, we arrived well early enough on game day to get to the wall to which he is known to sign at. I found out he will exit the dugout and start at the wall and continue to the netting. He does this roughly about 20 minutes before gametime. He had many of us wondering if he was going to sign as he sat in the dugout for 15 minutes by himself snacking on some seeds.But true to his routine , he came out and graciously signed for the people there. My son was having a rough time as to which card to have him sign and Mr. Sandberg made the decision for him that much easier.


I have read that the Phillies may pull the trigger on getting this HOF'er in the clubhouse sooner than later so I did not want to miss out on this.Thanks to Mr. Sandberg..

We also ran into the 1983 World Series Champion Baltimore Orioles manager Mr. Joe Altobelli





We spoke briefly about baseball and when I brought up Virgil Trucks he told me about watching him as a kid and that there was a reason they called him " Fire " Trucks .



Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Success 1a and 1b

Well , I wanted to post the 1b success on Friday , but an electric hedge clipper  changed that. I managed to nip my finger so posting was the last thing on my mind.But on to the successes.

I mentioned about the upcoming games I would be attending with hopes of getting some signed balls. Well Chase d'Arnaud was more than happy to comply with my request. Was hoping for the sweet spot but took his usual spot on the ball when he signs. I guess I should have told him that this was going to be a 1 and done ball and requested the SS.






Next up is HOFer Ryne Sandberg on friday...

The 1a success which , bear with me , I have to thank my wife for. You see , she is umm  , well , having a bad time right now due to some , um , womanly cycle.. And me being the good guy I am , set off to the local grocery to fetch some " products " for her. Well after getting the said products I went to get some Bic pens for the signing of balls I am after. Conveniently , the rack that holds packs and blasters was right there as well. I looked over what they had and didnt think much until hiding on the top was a Legends blaster of UD Masterpieces. If you read one of my previous posts , it was how I have never seen these and instantly loved them. Needless to say $10 was a ggod price to get 7 packs.Heres some of the cards.



These pictures do not do any justice.To me , this set is definately the card and not the player. I was pretty happy with what I had gotten and this just made it better. I give to you success 1a ....





Yep , my 1st MAJOR hit. My son who loves the Yankees and the " old timers " immediately claimed this one..


Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Meeting a World Series Champion

Back in June , I had the honor of meeting Johnny Antonelli , 1954 World Series Champion and 6x All Star. This gentleman has been very elusive as far as TTM's go. I started TTM'ing this year and my first thoughts were to collect from Rochester Athletes. Joe Altobelli being my first success , I looked hard into finding Mr. Antonelli . Unfortunately , the TTM sites that I use had nothing but failures.
Fast forward to May when his book that he has been working on " Johnny Antonelli , A baseball memoir " is released and that he is doing mini book signings in the Rochester and Santa Fe area ( his winter home I believe ) . So off I went to sit with my son Kyle to listen to stories about his career and hopefully get my 1st Baseball Auto.
It's amazing to me how you can think about things you want to ask someone and when the time comes how intimidating it is to go and possibly bother someone.Knowing that their have been a lot of TTM failures , my gut feeling was he was done signing for one reason or another. So i had emailed the co-writer and asked him what he thought about bringing a baseball. He said Johnny would be OK with it.And that he was. My son got the book and I got the ball. He had a lot of stories which honestly were in the book but I do recommend that if all possible ,  pick it up. He even set up Willie Mays for a meeting with the Firestone Tire Execs ( Mr Antonelli became one of the most successful Firestone store(s) owners in our area and beyond ) and well I will let the book tell that story.

He was a great guy and was very humble about his career and life in general. I was glad Kyle was able to meet him and see that 54 World Series ring. My only mistake was leaving the camera behind..DOH!!






Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Rackrs Contest

Rackrs is giving away a signed Ernie Banks card to the first 50 people who comment on their post. Get in while you can.  You have to register or be registered.

http://rackrs.com/Autograph/14753/1993-ernie-banks-nabisco-all-stars-auto-card






Monday, August 13, 2012

Masterpieces.. I'll say.

Arriving early for the LOC's trading day , I went through 1 of the boxes of dime cards and came across these beauties. I'm not sure why I have yet to come across these cards NFL or MLB for that matter. These are really great looking cards.So good , that it is now my goal to get as many as I can.Haven't even looked into how many there are but I got to have them.
I can look at at say a Topps Legends card of say Howie Long. Nice card looks good , but now look at the Brian Bosworth.I feel the energy or MOJO coming off the card. Does anyone else agree? This may be a beauty in the eyes of the beholder but i don't think so..




Sunday, August 12, 2012

Feed back

I'm getting great feedback and I thank you for that. Slowly I am adding new things to this page so bear with me and by all means , keep the feedback coming. Baby steps...

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Ebay Purchase

So I was able to have the winning bid on a lot of 6 Manny Machado rookies. 2010 / 2011 Bowman Chromes and 2011 Bowman plat's. This was back on July 4th. When I received my package , enclosed was a Chris Sale signed Bowman Platinum. Having only trimmed the top of the bubble wrap envelope , i taped it and returned to sender. Emailed the seller and he apologized and refunded my purchase price and said he would ship out cards when the Sale buyer returned my cards to him. Well , it's over a month and now that Machado has been called up it makes this worse.I did get an email from the seller stating the other buyer has yet to send the cards back to him and he hasn't received a reply from that person as far as emails go. So I am really bummed out about this.I am not out any money but the fact remains that those should be in my hands right now. Does anyone else have any ebay  stories that are similiar ?
As far as " prospecting " goes , Chase d Arnaud is in town this time next week , Ryne Sandberg is in town in 2 weeks and Zack Wheeler in 3 weeks.I am planning on getting an ROML baseball for Sandberg , do you think the other 2 are ball worthy ? These aren't for ebay , but just throwing it out there..

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

The Ironman Cometh

The Ironman himself was in Rochester today. He was to be officially inducted into the International League Hall of Fame. He was placed into the HoF last year but for some reason the ceremony was held tonight. I was thinking about going but could only imagine how crazy it was going to be and well I may have been wrong. f you are interested , a sports beat writer has checked in and wrote this on his site.

http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/extrabases/

The local card show will be starting up again at the end of the month. It took a 2 month recess for summer and I cant wait to get back. I spent allot of time on Ebay  and purchased probably more than I should have.
I am going to try and find some affordable Virgil Trucks and look for some Wilmer Flores and Manny Machado cards. I did win a lot of Manny cards but the seller shipped those cards to a person who won a Chris Sale Auto card with me getting the Sale card. I immediately shipped back and he refunded telling me the Machados are mine as soon as the other buyer sends them. Well long story short , he has yet to get them. So even though i was refunded , I am out the Machados... My reason for going after those 2 prospects are that I happened to be in Binghamton for business and caught a game between the Bowie Baysox VS Binghamton Mets. Both teams looked solid as far as future stars but those 2 stood out.

Thanks again for checking my page and please leave a comment ( good or bad )